El Salvador

News about El Salvador, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

May. 24, 2015

Tens of thousands of people take to streets in San Salvador to celebrate beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980. MORE

May. 23, 2015

El Salvador is celebrating beatification of Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in San Salvador in 1980; Pope Francis's decision to declare Romero a martyr has been seen by many in country as reaffirmation of their long-held belief in his deep pastoral commitment. MORE

Apr. 9, 2015

Gen Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova is deported from United States over his role in human rights abuses during his tenure as defense minister of El Salvador; Casanova is highest-ranking official to be deported following passage of 2004 law meant to keep those guilty of abuses from seeking refuge in US. MORE

Apr. 1, 2015

Immigration authorities who succeeded after 16-year litigation in having El Salvadoran Gen Eugenio Vides Casanova deported for human rights abuses committed by his troops in 1980s now say he must remain in United State for another week, citing legal and diplomatic complications. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Gen Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, former defense minister of El Salvador accused of human rights violations during 1980s civil war, is detained by immigration agents in Palm Coast, Fla, first step in his deportation. MORE

Mar. 13, 2015

Board of Immigration Appeals rules that Gen Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova can be deported from the United States to his home country of El Salvador; finds Casanova, close American ally during El Salvador's civil war, had direct role in abuse and killings of civilians; decision sets bold precedent that will make it easier to deport foreign commanders for violations committed by those serving under them. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Pope Francis honors as a martyr Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was shot to death at altar in 1980 as he was saying Mass; move clears way for Romero to be beatified. MORE

Jan. 30, 2015

Op-Ed article by Vice Pres Joseph R Biden Jr holds that tremendous problems facing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras can be addressed given sustained effort that has been forthcoming from their leaders and help from United States; contends America's fortunes are linked to those of South America, ignoring their problems brings them to US doorstep; urges Congress to approve $1 billion Pres Obama has requested to make reforms in South America, saying failure to do so will cost far more. MORE

Jul. 26, 2014

Pres Obama urges Presidents Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador to help stem the flow of migrant children toward the United States border; meeting comes as White House continues to press Congress for more resources and authority to confront the flood of migrants, especially children. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Pres Obama summons presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to the White House in effort to demonstrate high-level cooperation to stanch flow of migrant children into United States; meeting comes as administration struggles to win approval to shore up border security and care for the 57,000 unaccompanied children who have arrived since fall of 2013. MORE

Jul. 4, 2014

United States and El Salvador say they have settled their differences over compliance with fine print of trade agreement that threatened to delay aid to small Central American country; timing of dispute is embarrassment for United States, as haggling over program to help poor farmers makes nation's leaders appear tone-deaf. MORE

Jun. 6, 2014

About 1,000 women and children, mainly from Central American, have been dropped off in Phoenix since Memorial Day weekend with little more than bottles of water, apples and potato chips; up to four buses a day arrive, each filled to capacity with undocumented migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras; situation is enraging local groups and causing alarm among Border Patrol officials; unanticipated surge in migrants has created political, practical and humanitarian crisis for Obama administration. MORE

May. 24, 2014

El Salvador police say gunmen boarded a bus in a town near capital of San Salvador, and opened fire on passengers, killing six, including three law enforcement officials. MORE

May. 1, 2014

El Salvador's former Pres Francisco Flores will face embezzlement and other corruption charges related to what prosecutors say was the misappropriation of at least $5.3 million in loans from Taiwan during his tenure, from 1999 to 2004. MORE

Apr. 12, 2014

Immigration judge in Miami finds that Gen Jose Guillermo Garcia, former defense minister in El Salvador, should be deported because of his involvement in number of human rights violations; is accused of participating in assassination of an archbishop and massacre of more than 1,000 peasants in El Salvador in 1980s, at time when United States was supporting country's civil war. MORE

Mar. 10, 2014

Vice Pres Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador is elected president by 6,000-vote margin, surprisingly close finish following opinion polls giving him double-digit lead. MORE

Feb. 12, 2014

Jose Salvador Alvarenga, Salvadoran shark fisherman who told authorities he spent 13 months adrift in the Pacific Ocean before washing ashore in the Marshall Islands, returns home to El Salvador; authorities and experts are greeting his story with awe and skepticism, because there is no record of anyone surviving that long adrift at sea. MORE

Feb. 4, 2014

Presidential elections in El Salvador and Costa Rica will head to a second round after top contenders in both nations fail to get enough votes to win outright, in contests that test the power of incumbent parties. MORE

Feb. 3, 2014

El Salvador and Costa Rica hold presidential elections that are expected to be closely fought contests that focus less on ideology than on voters' unease over unemployment, corruption and crime; left-leaning candidates in both countries are either leading or have surged in late polls. MORE

Oct. 6, 2013

Op-Ed article by reporter Oscar Martinez describes how the incredibly high murder rate in El Salvador declined in 2012 due to a truce brokered between powerful local gangs by the government, but notes Pres Mauricio Funes denies the government's involvement; laments that Funes seems adamant about ending his term without admitting how he has helped save more than 2,000 lives in two years. MORE

Aug. 28, 2013

Inocente Orlando Montano, former colonel in Salvadoran military accused of planning killing of six Jesuit priests during country’s civil war, has been sentenced to 21 months in United States prison for immigration violations; sentence could set stage for his extradition to Spain, where he would be one of few top-ranking officers to face trial in 1989 killings. MORE

Jun. 5, 2013

Memo from Latin America; Caesarean section that ended high-risk pregnancy of El Salvadoran woman known as Beatriz raises question of whether doctors who performed operation managed to terminate pregnancy without violating country's strict anti-abortion law; Beatriz had been denied an abortion by country's courts; law, while stringent, is also vague and open to interpretation. MORE

May. 31, 2013

El Salvador's health minister Maria Isabel Rodriguez says woman who was denied an abortion by country's Supreme Court despite facing serious health risks can terminate her pregnancy at first sign of danger. MORE

May. 30, 2013

El Salvador’s highest court denies appeal from woman with high-risk pregnancy to be allowed to undergo abortion, upholding country’s strict law banning abortion under any circumstances. MORE

May. 29, 2013

Case of young woman with high-risk pregnancy who is awaiting a Salvadoran Supreme Court ruling has become a focal point over abortion in Latin America; case tests whether abortion should remain off limits even when mother is at risk and baby has little hope of survival; several Latin American nations have softened their stances on issue but in El Salvador, abortion is illegal under any circumstances. MORE

Apr. 12, 2013

Justice Department releases United States immigration judge’s ruling ordering deportation of Gen Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, former high-ranking Salvadoran military officer, for his role in 1980 rape and murder of four American churchwomen and other crimes there. MORE

Sep. 25, 2012

Dutch company Qiagen has created a new, inexpensive DNA swab test for the papillomaviruses that cause cancer; test is being introduced in El Salvador as a way to screen poor women for cervical cancer. MORE

Aug. 28, 2012

Truce between El Salvador's two most violent street gangs endures after five months, leading to precipitous drop in violence, but skeptics question whether the government made a deal with the devil for the public good; homicides are down 32 percent in first half of2012, kidnappings have fallen 50 percent and extortion has declined nearly 10 percent. MORE

Jun. 5, 2012

World Bank panel rules that a lawsuit brought by the Pacific Rim Mining Corporation, a Canadian company, against El Salvador for blocking a gold mine can proceed under the country's investment law, but not under the provisions of the Central America Free Trade Agreement. MORE

May. 10, 2012

El Salvador's Supreme Court rejects an extradition request from Spain for 13 former officers accused of ordering the killings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter during El Salvador's civil war. MORE

Mar. 30, 2012

President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador says that a truce among the nation's gangs, which has led to a drop in homicides, is the result of mediation by the Roman Catholic Church. MORE

Mar. 25, 2012

Statistics show that killings have plummeted in El Salvador, one of the most violent countries in Central America and a source of growing worry over gangs and organized crime; the possibility of a bargain struck between the government and gang leaders to curtail violence in exchange for better prison conditions is being scrutinized and has rattled El Salvador’s political establishment. MORE

Feb. 24, 2012

Immigration Judge James Grim in Florida clears the way for the deportation of Gen Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, a former defense minister of El Salvador, finding that he assisted in acts of torture and murder committed by soldiers under his command during the civil war there, including several notorious killings of Americans; decision marks the first time that federal immigration prosecutors have established that a top-ranking foreign military commander can be deported based on human rights violations under a 2004 law. MORE

Dec. 22, 2011

Peace Corps will pull out of Honduras and stop sending new volunteers to Guatemala and El Salvador in response to increasing drug and organized-crime violence in Central America. MORE

Dec. 10, 2011

Gail Collins Op-Ed column scores Senate Republicans for their determination to block the nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador. MORE

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General Information on El Salvador

Official Name: Republic of El Salvador
Capital: San Salvador (Current local time)
Government Type: Republic
Population: 6.9 million
Area: 8,008 square miles; about the size of Massachusetts
Languages: Spanish
Literacy: Total population: 85%
Year of Independence: 1821
Web site:Casapres.gob.sv

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As gang violence in El Salvador creeps to levels not seen since that country’s civil war, Manu Brabo found civilians calling for police and the military to take a hardened stance, despite troubling memories.

May 23, 2015, Saturday

Pope Francis’ decision to beatify Óscar Romero, the Salvadoran archbishop who was killed in 1980, is seen as recognition of his work for the poor, and is being celebrated across El Salvador on Saturday.

An immigration judge’s ruling ordering the deportation of former Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova over his role in the 1980 rape and murder of four American churchwomen and other crimes in El Salvador.